yellow cab is owner operated. we have our own managers through the secret ballot, and it is an excellent company. the reason it looks like people complain about yellow cab, the influence in the cab discussion, a lot of medallion holders of with yellow cab because it is excellent. that is also documented by the fact that a lot of drivers -- i urge you to support the sale of medallions, regardless of age and regardless of pre or post k. please give us transfer rights

for our families. we have no benefits. we have no pensions. everything we do, we live from day to day. if something happens, our families have nothing. i urge you to consider the transfer rights so that our families can sell the medallions if something happens. i think you very much. -- thank you very much. chairman nolan: thank you. next speaker. secretary boomer: [reading names] >> in the first years, there was regulatory neglect, and the lack of foresight and oversight in particular led to where the medallion permitting mechanism had been integrated so badly it was sort of vague kafka-esque.

at retirement age when their name came up, and yet there is a full-time driving requirement. in the consequence of this malfeasance policy, it led to major accidents, big insurance liability payouts. general industry dysfunction. we had a couple of suicides are even more by k medallion holders and did not want to go through the humiliation to get the medallions back, and there have been many lawsuits in state court. i mention this because there are people in the room who want to glorify and romanticize this, but there is a willful denial that it is a failed experiment. the medallion sales program has created entry and exit opportunities and has been very successful. i want to thank director oka in advance, and you have the

nicest hat of anyone up there, but i think it will make amendments to include two groups of people. they bought the medallions with the idea that they could sell them. i have sent you a couple of emails. it would be better to let people willing to sell to be matched up with people who are willing. chairman nolan: thank you. next speaker. secretary boomer: [reading names] >> i am a native san franciscan and proud to be a native san franciscan. i started driving a taxi cab, and that enabled me to put myself through college and get a

college degree. that made the members of my family very happy and proud. in the 1970's, i took my life savings and borrowed an additional $20,000 to purchase a medallion and a bead of taxi from the bank regular cab company of san francisco. now, i am 63 years of age. on have a daughter that is approaching college age, and the fact that i am a pre k medallion older, i am too to sell it, too old to sell my medallion. i am a prek, not a post k, and i am another class of medallion holder, and it is that the city is just waiting for me to die, and i have nothing to show to my family for my hard work?

when i purchased my medallion in 1978, i looked at it as an investment for some time in the future getting my investment back, a return on my investment. thank you. chairman nolan: thank you. next speaker, please. secretary boomer: reading names] chairman nolan: hello. >> i have had mine for about 12 years. i had a ramp medallion. it is a very tiring job. -- training and job. i never would have stayed in

this occupation if i felt it was just an accident or illness or disability that would wipe out the 25 plus years. it is a tiresome job. it is true. you must be -- maybe not highly intelligent, but it does take a toll on you. there are fluctuations in its

blood pressure from driving. starter responses. chairman nolan: thank you. next speaker, please. secretary boomer: [reading names] >> i am here to urge you to do a really simple thing. some of the other speakers set spoken. there needs to be a permanent program to take the intra program, the pilot program we have right now, and almost as an afterthought, because your

original program was elaborated after i think 150 hours of town hall meetings. six or seven hearings at this board, and it has come to its conclusion, which everybody to apply to sell has had the opportunity to sell, they have had the opportunity to buy. and now, a permanent program needs to be in place. that needs to be a elaborated, but if you take the huge number of medallions right now off of the table by allowing people to sell, a lot of the ideas that have come up will come up in the discussion. they are going to be foresh limited and pre-empted, so i am urging you not to approve any expansion of the program except to people who have become disabled since the pro ramp started or another

reason that was part of the pilot program and get on with the business of a permanent program. my own take on this, and everybody is going to have their own, but people who have been on the waiting list, waiting around for 15 or 16 years and are now being orphaned by the system, the cannot afford to buy a medallion or find it impractical to do so, space has to be made for them. i do not want to see them cut short by this action. thank you. chairman nolan: thank you. secretary boomer: [reading names] last speaker, martin smith. >> it is my request -- the pre k

medallion, i have posed k. -- post k. please laura lee age to 60 or whatever. thank you. -- please lower the age to 60 or whenever. chairman nolan: thank you. >> good afternoon. i am a member of yellow cab. how we started. we were a small group of new immigrants in this country. mostly minorities. we heard we had the opportunity to have a yellow cab business. we had our $6,000 as a down payment.

everything that we had. we were thinking this would be our nest egg in the future. then, for some reason, we alienated politicians. we cannot give it to our kids anymore. this was already established. and then you gave us hope. that was the greatest hope, but our nest egg and our confidence and trust in the city, we are not going to be betrayed anymore again. and then, please, do not taken away from us. you gave us the hope. how many are there?

few. give them the dignity, please, to live their lives without being burdened, without being a burden to their family. whenever we have here. medicare, welfare. secretary boomer: [reading names] chairman nolan: hello again. >> it is a very complicated business, and i think many, like bruce oka, have done a good job. let me bring you up to speed. she already started. the older pre k's and post k's, i mean the pre k people beg or

borrow to start a yellow cab co- op, and at the end of their lives after giving their whole lives to an industry, to cut them out is just wrong, so i object. i agree that these should be treated the same, the pre k and the post k. you are the body that makes decisions. the idea of lowering the age of the pilot program, which i very much believe should be continued, to those people who are 60, 64, it was really debated. it may just be an error in transcription. what you received truck that out. i think that error in transcription, if it was not deliberate, should be corrected, and then let's see. i think the program should be continued. something has to happen with the

people on the list for those who have been waiting for a certain number of years, some sort of graduated program. i was something like 99, and they did away with my list, and did. there can be some balance, but please continue the pilot program, and please do not hurt these senior citizens who have high costs in maintenance now, and they are the ones who really took the risk and had an illegal taking of their property to begin with. chairman nolan: thank you. next speaker. secretary boomer: reading names] chairman nolan: good afternoon, mr. smith. >> good afternoon. i am here to speak out about keeping the sales of the

medallions open. for enabling legislation to -- and we are able to send this thing forward. my colleague a few minutes ago spoke of adding even 100 more cabs. i do not believe that. i believe and adding 500 more cabs. we need them. we need to keep this open. the city needs money. drivers need work. two event happened over the past 50 years. one was the yellow cab, the costs. that enabled about 204300 people to buy medallions. now, a new event happens, where we have a another program, a pilot program. this enabled a plethora of drivers to get in there, and people were saying, "no, no one is ever going to do that." but we ran out of cabs.

we can sell them. we can sell the rights the medallion holders. we can put 500 medallions on the street. we could sell 200 of them out there. they will sell like hotcakes. it will solve a lot of problems for everybody. it is a win-win situation. please keep this going. thank you very much. chairman nolan: thank you. secretary boomer: [reading names] chairman nolan: mr. corngold. >> if we were starting from scratch, i would not mind if everyone sold their medallions, except there are some high on the list that will not be able to purchase a medallion, and they have been filling the driving requirement for many years. in many cases, like mine, they have given up other

opportunities because of their position on the list. i was initially against selling medallions, but after a bunch of town hall meetings, i have begun to see a value for some people to purchase a medallion and for some senior or disabled drivers to sell their medallion. however, pre k medallion holders do not have a driving requirement. the original idea was for safety and to give them a way out. i do not feel as sorry for them because they have made back whenever they purchased a medallion for about twice a year. >> the new medallion holders are being asked to put in most of their income to pay off the loan. they could have been putting the money into a savings account. they can do it a lot easier than anybody else. drivers get no extra income and there are required to fulfill

this requirement. i noticed on the new fines and penalties, the section for $75 for disabling security camera, there's a lot on california vehicle code that gives us the right to disable them. and the cameras, most of them don't comply with the law. dr. the last person to turn into a speaker card -- to turn -- >> last person to turn in a speaker card. >> about the people waiting on the left of that have been largely ignored by the situation, of like to point out that they have made somewhere between $800,000 to $1 million.

they are making about $3,000 a month without driving, so i have mixed feelings about it, but i don't think it is all that hair. as far as raising age, it was because the original aid was put at 60 in these meetings because of inaccurate information as to how many people will be hit on the streets. you want to control the number of sales because of the destabilization of business if you have to many people. >> there may be some people that have not turned in cards. >> i work reflects our cabin. i want to remind the board that the pilot program was extraordinarily successful.

there were no limitations or distinctions. what we were focused on was having an opportunity to have people and drivers that held the medallion over the age of 70 gracefully exit the system. there is a question to move the program forward. we believe the project was very successful and it is very reasonable to lower their raged to either six years 65, and we think there ought to be no distinction between the two. it is a step forward and we urge you to continue that effort. >> let's make sure that we finished the public comment. it is closed. >> we are asked to approve the ordinance, and i support that.

but before we vote on this, i want to ask what the objects and you had on these -- ha what is wrong with what we're doing? >> my main objection is that we have to -- we cannot measure the quality of service by numbers. i believe we should provide service for all, and it is wrong. it doesn't make -- >> is their proposed amendment? >> let me ask a question, first.

what is the value of keeping three k and post-k things separate. >> this is an interim measure, we're still waiting for the tax the advisory council to come out with the recommendation. we have beefed up the process so that we can come to our recommendations center. in the meantime, we have a lot of eager medallion buyers, and we have run out of a medallion stock as well as there have been some people that have become disabled since the program has opened andrew want to give them an opportunity. the competing sides here, on the one hand we want to open up more opportunity for sellers and purchasers. every time we allow medallion to be transferred, the medallion

will no longer be available for any other kind of long-term permanent solution to the discussions of the industry. this is intended to let off a little bit of steam to keep the pilot program going while we wait for a longer-term solution. rather than opening the door to wide, we wanted to open it a little bit without drawing any conclusions going forward as to what would be done. this is just for the purpose of limiting the number of the die and that could be transferred to those where there is a very serious policy need and those who are driving that are over 65 years old. the pre-payment diana holders don't have a driving requirement, so there is less of a policy argument there.

ultimately, what is the right policy? that is something we should look at and the long-term program. but in the short term, instead of prejudging what the outcome of the industry discussion is going to be, let's let a few more people through the door while with is that discussion. >> the worst case is that it would remove the number of medallions to be available for later sale? how many are we talking about? >> is about 300. i would be remiss if i did not mention the financial considerations as well. if somebody were to sell them dianne, how the city would realize $37,500 in transfer fees. it is a terrible thing to say, but the way they have been circulated over the time is through death and revocation. if somebody were to pass away,

it would be worth $237,500. if you're talking about the entire population, a value of $71 million and change. >> i have heard people said that we only allow pre-k to sell them, is that true? >> that is correct, in the first iteration of the pilot program that we have only opened in the last 18 months. we're still trying to proceed with caution and i don't think 18 months of experience over the last 33 years as necessarily precedent-setting one way or the other. during the first round, those that elected the medallion older qualify were allowed to sell. others have chosen not to.

>> of the clear message coming out of this that we're hearing, i think, that this board is communicative before is what we need to do is bring pilot programs to an end and have a permanent program. that you're doing the best you can to move this through, so start with that. what we should not do as incrementally make policy with a pilot program expansion and a pilot program expansion. we need a permanent program of transferability up and running. the way we will have a program for everybody with clear rules and clear understanding. this program today is by name and intent, and pilot program. for me, the purpose of this pilot program was to see that if we sold a medallion, it would

have some unforeseen effect on customer service or regulation. that, to me, was the purpose of this pilot program. guess what, the sky hasn't fallen and we know we can go ahead with this in a regimented manner and we do not have, we don't think, a real effect on customer service and there may be some benefits. there were some and that the hud program was designed also, to let off some steam and deal with the retirement issue. it had the added benefits. but i have doubts about expanding this to 65. i think we have done the pilot program and it has served us the main goal that we were after as

i understand it, to see if we can get to a permanent program of transferability to everyone. i understand staff is proposing 65 for some of the driving reasons that we have talked about, some of the disability reasons we have talked about, and to give us a little more comfort, it will work as we spend the next few months getting a permanent program on. i would not favor extending it passed what staff is recommending. i think we need stability, we have many medallions left, we have to have a way to deal with people on the waiting list. i agree that some of the speakers that proposition k has failed. but we have an obligation to those people, as well. we take away our ability to deal with people on the waiting list.

and time that we have been told to turn over every rock, he really limit our ability to recognize revenue for the citizens of san francisco. >> when is it likely they will come forward to his body with a recommendation for a permanent plan? >> are we talking a couple of months? >> i believe we can do it at the beginning of the year. and let's say february. >> let's be clear, we have discussed this. if we were to pass this expansion of the pilot program as you're talking about, how many medallions would be eligible for transfer? >> there are 365 medallion holders between the age of 60 and